SfanGoch

Paul K. Lindberg, noted model aircraft designer, established the namesake company in 1933. Paul Lindberg got his start in 1930s model aviation by designing, building and flying stick and tissue aircraft. His plans appeared in Popular Aviation magazine and other publications. He began producing injection-molded kits immediately after World War II. 1/64th is the traditional slot car scale. It is also the scale of diecast cars from Johnny Lightning, Hot Wheels, etc. It is equivalent to model railroading's S Scale/S Gauge.

I contacted the seller and asked if the price was in dollars or Yen. It didn't take long for a reply. Google Translate: Go kanshin o o yose itadaki arigatōgozaimasu. Hai, dekāru no kakaku wa tadashīdesu. Nihon'ende wa naku, amerikadoru/ yūro. Thank you for your interest. Yes, the price of decals is correct. USD/EUR, not Japan JPY.

It's dollars, not yen.

Not unusual for Japanese sellers to post absurdly high prices for most mundane, fairly common and readily available items. Check out used, beat-up sneakers.

That, and the ever popular disclaimer, "Looks complete but not sure, check photos" remark with an instruction sheet in full view in the first pic. How about using the instructions to inventory the parts before listing your junk? There was one seller who sold Johan kits for around $80-$100 a pop containing nothing but completely stripped and bare parts trees. His disclaimer was that the kit was missing body & tub, engine, chassis, etc. Caveat Sucker.

The seller of the Vacuform upgrade set was Lotek, aka "www.gaugepods.com". Lotek is no longer on ebay and the website no longer lists the upgrade set nor the plastic sheets. I got the set about five years ago.

As soon as I graduated 8th grade in '74, I took part of my graduation loot and went to Jack's Hobby Shop and bought the complete eight kit set for around 48 bucks. I asked Mrs. Jack to put them on the side so nobody would grab them. I never had to build any of them. My mother gave ALL of my modeling stuff to the little kid from down the block after I left for the Army in '79.

It can't be that odd. MPC and Tamiya (F1 cars) produced a good number of 1/20 kits as well.

AMT/SMP also packaged their kits in generic boxes. Only the box end stickers give away the contents. This is the art for the SMP 1960 Impala Hardtop box; although you wouldn't know it by just looking at it. Like the previous images, the only way to find out what kit it is inside is to look at the label on the box ends. Wendy's must have copped the concept for this commercial:

Some people might find it hard to believe that Lindberg produced decent model kits other than just cars. You're just not old enough to know that.

Atlantis won't divulge what toolings they obtained. Nobody, except Atlantis, bought the toolings from the Revell liquidation sale. They have most, if not all, of the U.S.-stored Aurora/Revell/Monogram car toolings which in all probability include the '62 Mopars. The only one which would require reverse engineering is the Dodge Dart. The body was hacked up to create the Dodge Revellion funny car.

More like insayin' Management-Speak.

I asked why all the Lindberg car kits were being reboxed as AMT on the R2 Facebook page and the reply was a bunch of double-talking-from-both-sides-of-the-mouth gibberish about R2's commitment to provide the best service to its customers. In plain English, "We're gutting Lindberg of any and all decent kits to shore up the big guy line, leaving the junk kits."

Alclad exhibits the identical dulling as Testors Metalizers when a clearcoat is applied. The clearcoat flattens the metallic pigments so that they reflect light uniformly, leaving you with a shiny, but non-reflective, sheen. You end up with a finish that looks like the liner inside of a Hot Pockets holder, just shinier.

The 6oz. size comes in a plastic bottle, which is perfect for airbrushing. Compared to the 12oz. rattle can, there's no product waste. You only use what you need. Plus, it's a better deal than getting the Hobby Kit which contains only 2oz bottles of EC and basecoat, four Speed Shapes and a polishing cloth. I've tested MM gloss black enamel and acrylic, Gunze Aqueous and Mr. Color Gloss Black and Revell Email 32107/Aqua Color 36107 Gloss Black as basecoats and all are acceptable. The Hobby Kit includes a clear water-based urethane basecoat which is fantastic. It can be thinned with water, Tamiya X-20A Thinner or similar acrylic thinners to improve flow. I need to contact Alsa to see if they sell the clear basecoat in bottles. You can use other clear water-based urethanes, too. TCP Global carries a couple different brands If you feel the need to use a topcoat, Alclad ALC600 Aqua Gloss Clear works. It doesn't affect the finish/reflectivity of the Easy Chrome. If you handle the chromed part and leave any fingerprints, use a soft, lint-free cloth, like the tee shirt you might be wearing at the time , and wipe them off. I'm going to refinish all of the chrome on my son's Schwinn Grey Ghost krate bike with EC.

I use mixtures of Vallejo Model Color acrylics to create rust, weathering and stain effects over Alclad and Easy Chrome. There's no steep learning curve in learning how to do it. This is a 1/35 resin Detroit Diesel 8V-92TA 12.06-liter diesel engine by Real Model for the Hobbyboss M1070 HET tractor: Easy Chrome is airbrush-applied and imparts a real chrome finish. First pic is an SMP/AMT '61 Imperial grille finished w/Easy Chrome: This is a Johan '60 Desoto grille: I defy you to say that the finish is not equal to, or, better, than kit chrome. The last two pics show you can do that. Additionally, it can be brushed on small details. As far as being worth the money, it certainly and most definitely is. As I previously commented,

It's an enamel solvent-based knock-off of Easy Chrome. Unlike Mirror, which requires at least 24 hours to dry (solvent evaporation) before handling, Easy Chrome is lacquer-based, dries hard and is safe to handle in 15-20 minutes. Mirror is ridiculously expensive, 40 bucks for 15ml (about 1/2 ounce). a 6oz. bottle of Easy Chrome costs $170. An equivalent amount of Mirror will cause $480 worth of damage to your credit card for a product which is inferior in quality to Easy Chrome.

The company is AMMO by Mig, owned by Jose "Mig" Rodriguez. Jose was the owner of Mig Productions, followed by AK Interactive. He left AK Interactive after a falling out with co-owner Fernando Vallejo (no connection to Amadeo Vallejo of Acrylicos Vallejo who, coincidentally, is a Jersey guy and started the company there in 1965, moving the company to Spain in 1969) and started a new company, the aforementioned AMMO by Mig. From Britmodeller: Alclad paints are sold by AMMO under the A-Stand brand. Therefore, any claims that A-Stand lacquers are superior to Alclad are nothing more than marketing B.S. since both are the same product.

Dollars to donuts, Peter Vetri, owner of Atlantis, has the toolings, minus the tires. Most likely, they were among the items obtained from the Revell U.S. warehouses during the liquidation sale. I wouldn't be surprised if he's working on new tooling for the tires and possibly the glass.

It costs more; but, Alsa Easy Chrome is the best on the market. Unlike Hyper Chrome, Alclad and especially Molotow Chrome ink, it doesn't require a clear topcoat to seal it, can be handled without rubbing off, never dulls and it looks like real chrome. Satisfied user since 2014.

Nice! The Testors 356 is a re-box of the Fujimi kit and is just as hard to find.

Tru-Color paints are excellent. Large and expanding range of automotive, armor, naval and railroad colors. They can be mixed and blended to create custom colors/shades. They are acrylic solvent-based, containing a small amount of acetone. That said, don't get creative by thinning them with acetone or lacquer thinner. From the Tru-Color FAQ:

The Metalflake kits command some major triple digit bucks. Every once in a while, you can run across one on fleabay for a really good price ($50-$80 range) because the sellers doesn't realize their relative rarity. The scarcest kits are the Newport and Imperial Crown. The majority available are really trashed out junkers, missing all of the important parts like hoods, engines, glass and most of the chrome, in the $100+ range. I was super lucky to have snagged the mint Imperial Crown for 79 bucks after I mentioned to the seller that he engine block halves were missing. When I received it, I found the parts inside the folded instruction sheet.

Revell produced two series of six 1962 Mopar kits, one (H-1250-H-1255) molded in colored styrene and the other (H-1260-H-1265) in Metalflake: H-1250/1260 - Valiant V-200 4 Door HT H-1251/1261 - Plymouth Fury 2 Door HT H-1252/1262 - Dodge Dart 440 # Door HT H-1253/1263 - Dodge Lancer GT H-1254/1264 - Chrysler Newport Convertible H-1255/1265 - Imperial Crown I've been lucky and snagged four: Plymouth Fury (Metalflake), Dodge Dart (Metalflake), Lancer GT (white styrene) and Imperial Crown (burgundy red styrene).

It's definitely a Revell. The odd points on the front and rear center edges of the roof are found only on the Revell Fury and Dart.